Teasing the Korean

Good, not earth-shattering. Certainly more jazz than pop, but not as good as the Bill Evans or Steve Kuhn collaborations. Worth picking up in clean condition for a good price. NP: Gary McFarland - Scorpio and Other Signs (Verve, stereo) This is one is more pop, and it may be his most compelling pop record, maybe next to The In Sound, also on Verve.

Gary McFarland - Profiles (impulse!, stereo) I have a mono copy too, but I'm currently wired for stereo.

Are certain of his studio albums considered "dance albums?" I'm thinking Bal Masque, at least.

I have the two-CD set and most (not all) of the LPs that include this stuff, so I'm probably set. I tend to enjoy this stuff in small doses, rather than a full album or CD.

That's the one I was thinking of. I thought it was called Portraits, but it is Presents.

I have seen Volume One frequently, but never Volume 2. I assume that early albums like Portraits or Encores served as de facto subsequent volumes?

Yes, we have the DVD, which I think is one of those "on demand" DVD-Rs. I remember hearing negative things about this film, before we ever saw it, and thinking to myself, "How can a film about Satan worshippers on a French wine estate possibly be bad?" 😹 Gary McFarland's score for the film is available on CD, incidentally.

😹

Gene Rains Lotus Land Far Across the Sea Rains in the Tropics

Snell is featured in the opening titles of Eye of the Devil, scored by Gary McFarland. I can't find the film sequence, but here is the audio.

Regarding "I'm Beginning to See the Light," Gunther said, and I'm paraphrasing, that the Harry James version was hip, and the Ellington version was square, and then he wondered if the two bands swapped arrangements!

More and Morricone: Le Casse, aka The Burglars The Sicilian Clan

Yesterday, Alexa randomly played the beautiful Scott Joplin piece "Solace." I was introduced to Scott Joplin's music as a kid, via the film The Sting. I saw the film with my family, and insisted on having the soundtrack album. This was the first time that I encountered the name Gunther Schuller, who arranged some of the piano pieces for a small ensemble, for the film and album. I didn't really have any jazz albums then, though my father did; it would be another three years before I started buying jazz. But Schuller's name would continually surface over decades, as a composer, arranger, player, and critic. (I started a thread a few years back about Schuller's critique of Sonny Rollins's "Blue 7.") When I lived in Beantown, I saw him at NEC in the mid-1990s. He was conducting his transcriptions of early big band arrangements. He had a funny anecdote about "I'm Beginning to See the Light."

There were supposed to be additional volumes, but what ended up happening was they included isolated score options on the DVD and/or Blu-ray cartoon collections.

More and Morricone: Verogna Schifosi Fear over the City

Morricone. Lots of Morricone, including: Il Gatto Il Giocattolo Grazie Zia Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion La Moglie Più Bella

Awareness is key. And it is very possible that musicians gravitate toward certain tracks or certain albums without being fans per se.

More than any of his other albums, this is the one where Gary seemed to deliberately blend his jazz and pop proclivities. But he has better jazz albums and better pop albums.

I finally got to see the documentary Ennio. It was good, not great. Too many talking heads. The interviews with people who actually knew and worked with Morricone were worthwhile. The inverviews with Bruce, Pat Metheny, and the dreaded Hans Zimmer were worthless. There was not a single mention of Bruno Nicolai, let alone details on their falling out. I hear that the director also completed a 6-hour edit of the film. I would love to see this one day, but I hope that the extra 4 hours are not all Bruce, Pat Metheny, or the dreaded Hans Zimmer.

You know that he covered "Possession" on one of his early albums, right?

Based on many musician interviews I've read over the decades, I assume that musicians listen to, or are at least exposed to, a wide range of ideas and influences, rather than pigeonholing them based on genre or demographics.

Well, we don't know who listened to what - or who subliminally heard what - but I prefer to err on the side musicians' awareness. We know that Sun Ra loved Les Baxter and Martin Denny - he is a true link between exotica and spiritual jazz. And the Baxter/Revel/Hoffman Music Out of the Moon apparently had a sizable African American audience in Los Angeles at the time. So who knows...

Gary McFarland - Point of Departure (impulse!, stereo)

So, this track from Volume 1 would fit seamlessly into an exotica set, especially when the vibes solo kicks in at around 3.13. And the bridge would fit well in a Donna Summer set. 😺 This tune features a devise that Les Baxter often used, playing a diminished chord on the root, with extended harmonies, before resolving to the major key. Another that would fit seamlessly into an Exotica set. And this was has an Yma Sumac-esque soprano and a chord sequence reminiscent of Cal Tajder's "Black Orchid," which was covered by Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman.

Ms. TTK is doing a tribute to Anouk in the Cocktail Mix segment of her show today. It will include Nino Rota's music from La Dolce Vita & 8 1/2; Francis Lai's music from A Man & a Woman; Michel Legrand's music from Lola; and Piero Piccioni's music from La Fuga and L'Imprevisto.